Introducing the Global English Style Guide
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The Global English Style Guide provides guidelines for writing clear documentation for a global audience, focusing on clarity, consistency, and translatability. It aims to eliminate misunderstandings in translation and make documentation more accessible to non-native speakers. The guide includes prioritization for translation types and specific examples for improving language use, sentence structure, punctuation, and terminology.
Introducing the Global English Style Guide
- 1. Introducing the Global English Style GuideEdwin HollonSenior Technical CommunicatorHansem EZUserGuides, Inc.
- 2. OverviewThe Global English Style Guide: Writing Clear, Translatable Documentation for a Global Market
- 3. John R. Kohl, Linguistic Engineer
- 4. Copyright © 2008 by SAS InstituteWhat is “Global English?”Written English that an author has optimized for a global audience by following guidelines that go beyond what is found in conventional style guides.
- 6. Goals of Global EnglishEliminate misunderstandings in translation
- 7. Eliminate terms or grammar that is unfamiliar to non-native speakers
- 8. Make sentence structure easier to analyze and comprehend
- 9. Eliminate inconsistencies Benefits of Global EnglishLess liability from incorrect translation
- 10. Reduced need for technical support
- 11. More consistent use of terminology
- 12. Improved searching for terms
- 13. Less work for translatorsPrioritized GuidelinesGuidelines include a priority for the purpose of the document:
- 14. For example,
- 15. “HT1” means high priority for human translation
- 16. “NN2” means medium priority for non-native speakers
- 17. “MT3” means low priority for machine translationExample Guidelines: HT16.1 Don’t use a telegraphic writing style(i.e., don’t omit articles or other syntactic cues)LABEL option not supported for file format
- 18. The LABEL option is not supported for this file format.
- 19. The following features improve usability of the product for users who have disabilities.
- 20. The following features improve the usability of the product for users who have disabilities. Example Guidelines: HT13.7 Consider revising noun phrases(i.e., reduce, hyphenate, or rearrange nouns)The MDDB Report Viewer application is a component of Application Dispatcher software.
- 21. The MDDB Report Viewer is a component of the Application Dispatcher.
- 22. You might want to use a third party application such as WinZip to archive the project.
- 23. You might want to use a third-party application such as WinZip to archive the project.Example Guidelines: NN12.1 Be logical, literal, and precise in your use of language (i.e., pay close attention literal meanings)This report compares the salaries of different departments for employees who have the same education level.
- 24. This report compares the salaries of employees who have the same education level, grouped by department.
- 25. When you hover over a menu item, a white underline appears.
- 26. When you position your mouse pointer over a menu item, a white underline appears.Example Guidelines: NN13.1 Limit the length of sentences (20-25 words maximum)If Chocolate Bits is set to NO, indicating that there are no chocolate bits in the sample batch of ice cream, then the selections for Enough Bits and Size of Bits are grayed to prevent users from entering irrelevant data. (40 words)
- 27. If Chocolate Bits is set to NO, then there are no chocolate bits in the sample batch of ice cream. Therefore, the selections for Enough Bits and Size of Bits are grayed to prevent users from entering irrelevant data. (20+19 words)
- 28. With design-time controls, you control the look and feel of your Web pages in a WYSIWYG editor environment, and at the same time use all the functionality of SAS/IntrNet software in your Web pages. (35 words)
- 29. With design-time controls, you control the look and feel of your Web pages in a WYSIWYG editor environment. In addition, you can use all the functionality of SAS/IntrNet software in your Web pages. (19+15 words)Example Guidelines: MT12.4 Use standard verb complementsWe recommendto use the Web version of the application.
- 30. We recommendthat you use the Web version of the application.
- 31. By default, a command bar is displayed at the top of the window. Alternatively, you can selectto display a floating command dialog box instead.
- 32. By default, a command bar is displayed at the top of the window. Alternatively, you can chooseto display a floating command dialog box instead.Example Guidelines: MT14.1 Place only and not immediately before whatever they are modifyingArtificial Neural Network forecasting only works in Version 7.0.
- 33. Artificial Neural Network forecasting works only in Version 7.0.
- 34. The fact is that everyone is not getting rich. On the contrary, the world is full of disappointed investors.
- 35. The fact is that not everyone is getting rich. On the contrary, the world is full of disappointed investors.Punctuation GuidelinesChapter 8 includes guidelines for punctuation and capitalization:Similar to Chicago Manual of Style
- 36. However, these take into account the needs of non-native speakers and translators
- 37. Intended to supplement (or, in a few cases, override) the standard rules of American English
- 38. Include considerations for translation memoryExample Guidelines: Punctuation8.1 Ampersands (don’t use an ampersand in place of the word and)For more information, see Ch 14 & Ch 15.
- 39. For more information, see chapters 14 and 15.8.6 Equal signs (don’t use an equal sign in place of text)Any non-blank character = turn off metadata checking, and blank = perform metadata checking.
- 40. Any non-blank character turns off metadata checking, and a blank character turns on metadata checking.Terminology GuidelinesChapter 9 includes goals and guidelines for controlling terminology:Make documents more understandable for non-native speakers
- 41. Make translation more efficient and reduce translation costs
- 42. Make information more accessible and understandable for all readers
- 43. Improve document qualityExample Guidelines: Terms9.3 Eliminate internal termsIn the figure, callouts are used to indicate the main parts of the portal.
- 44. In the figure, the main parts of the portal are numbered, and explanations are provided below.9.6 Eliminate incorrect technical terms
- 46. Questions or Comments?Thank you for attending